Cover pages. Pdf

Dispute Sector
In the workplace sector both men and women use predominantly
socioemotional patterns of meaning (Table 30). There is no difference to this
finding if respondents are veterans or newcomers to the field, nor is there a
difference based on his or her educational background.
Table 30. Summary: Patterns of Meaning, Dispute Sector and Gender
COMMUNITY
FAMILY
BUSINESS
WORKPLACE
MALE
Socioemotional-
Pragmatic
Pragmatic
Pragmatic
Socioemotional
FEMALE
Socioemotional-
Pragmatic
Pragmatic-
Socioemotional
Socioemotional-
Pragmatic
Socioemotional
Respondents working in the business sector use highly “pragmatic” patterns
of meaning (42%) when describing their work as mediators. This may in part
be due to the fact that two-thirds of them are men, and men in this study tend

---

203
to use more “pragmatic” concepts whereas women tended to use more
“socioemotional traits. Individuals in the workplace sector use highly
“socioemotional” (44%) concepts. This is also not surprising when we recall
that mediators in this group do human rights and harassment mediations
where relational issues are central, as well as labour management and
organizational disputes. More than half (55%) of the mediators who work in
the community sector use “socioemotional-pragmatic” concepts to describe
their approach to mediation. As a group, family mediators use more mixed
concepts in their description of roles, styles, and orientations, although they
do have a slight tendency toward “pragmatic-socioemotional” patterns of
meaning (32%). There is also a tendency for male family mediators to use
“pragmatic” concepts more than their female counterparts (Table 26).
In the business sector the influence of gender is especially apparent
(Table 31). Whereas, half of men in the business sector were coded as using
highly “pragmatic” concepts, few women in the same sector used highly
“pragmatic” concepts. The majority used “socioemotional-pragmatic” patterns
of meaning. Thus, women working in the business sector in this sample tend
to define their work using more socioemotional than pragmatic patterns of
meaning. The reverse is true of men in the business sector.

---

204
Table 31: Patterns of Meanings, Dispute Sector and Gender
PATTERNS OF MEANING COMMUNITY
FAMILY
BUSINESS
WORK
PLACE
TOTAL
Pragmatic
17% (1)
44% (4)
56% (10)
14%
40% (16)
Pragmatic-socioemotional
33% (2)
22% (2)
22% (4)
14%
23% (9)
Socioemotional-pragmatic
50% (3)
33% (3)
17% (3)
29%
28% (11)
Socioemotional
6% (1)
43%
10% (4)
MALE
Total
100% (6)
100% (9)
100% (18)
100% (7) 100% (40)
Pragmatic
6% (1)
15% (2)
13% (1)
9%( 4)
Pragmatic-socioemotional
6% (1)
39% (5)
25% (2)
22% (2)
22% (10)
Socioemotional-pragmatic
56% (9)
15% (2)
50% (4)
33% (3)
39% (18)
Socioemotional
31% (5)
31% (4)
13% (1)
44% (4)
30% (14)
FEMALE
Total
100% (16)
100% (13)
100% (8)
100% (9) 100% (46)
86 valid cases; 2 missing cases
Source: C. Picard, A Survey of Mediation in Canada, 1998
Length of Time Mediating
Newcomers to mediation tend to be slightly less pragmatic in how they
understand mediation than veterans (Table 32).
Table 32: Length of Time Mediating
Newcomers
Veterans
Pragmatic
22%
28%
25% (n22)
Pragmatic-socioemotional
18%
24%
22% (n19)
Socioemotional-pragmatic
39%
28%
32% (n28)
Socioemotional
21%
20%
21% (n18)
Total (n) 100% (n33)
100% (n54)
100 (n87)
87 valid cases; 1 missing case
Source: C. Picard, A Survey of Mediation in Canada, 1998

---

205
To sum up this section on the connection between contextual factors
and traits of mediation meanings, this research shows that women mediators
tend to use more “socioemotional” traits while men tend to use more
“pragmatic” traits when describing mediation. This finding of gender
difference appears consistent with other analyses of gender differences in
social thought and behavior (Gilligan, C, 1982; Tannen, 1990) and more
specifically in relation to conflict and mediation (Taylor and Beinstein Miller,
1994; Weingarten and Douvan, 1985). Similar to the findings in this study,
their studies showed that men tended to focus on task aspects while women
were more sensitive to feelings and emotions. Social scientists are not
suggesting that only one, or the other, gender practices particular sets of
skills and strategies. Rather, they are saying that gender tendencies in the
selection of goals and styles of behaviour exist based on ones’ view of a
problem. To illustrate this point, Weingarten and Douvan (1985) found that
male mediators tended to construct their role as instruments of a process
aimed at seeking solutions while female mediators emphasized the process
of coming to understand the parties and acceptance of difference more so
than reaching agreement. Although no definitive conclusions can be drawn
from either this research or the Weingarten and Douvan study, the implication
from both studies is that men and women mediators tend to have different
conceptualizations of mediation practice. Of course it is also possible that
this difference is a reflection of how men and women are positioned in their
area of work.

---

206
In addition to gender differences in the use of mediation patterns of
meaning, this research also found that individuals with backgrounds in
business used more “pragmatic” concepts to conceptualize mediation than
those with law or social science backgrounds. And linked to this,
respondents working in the business sector tend to use more “pragmatic’
concepts than individuals in any of the other sectors.